The invention relates to an improved system and method for delivering assigned feed rations to feedbunks associated with animal pens in a feedlot, in which discretion and control over various operations of the feed ration assignment and delivery process are distributed among individual operators in the system. A feedlot manager monitors the performance of the various operations through use of a satellite-based global positioning system.
In modern times, commercial feedlots are used extensively to feed thousands of head of cattle or other animals at various stages of growth. The major reason for using an animal to feedlot to feed cattle rather than the xe2x80x9copen rangexe2x80x9d, is to expedite the cattle growth process and thus be able to bring cattle to the market in a shorter time period. Within an animal feedlot, cattle are physically contained in cattle pens, each of which has a feedbunk to receive feed. Ownership of cattle in the feedlot is defined by unique lot numbers associated with the group(sP of cattle in each pen. The number of cattle in an owner""s lot can vary and may occupy a fraction of one or more cattle pens. Within a particular pen, cattle are fed the same feed ration, (i.e the same type and quantity of feed). In order to accommodate cattle at various stages of growth or which require special feeding because they are sick, undernourished or the like, the feedlot comprises a large number of pens.
Generally, feeding cattle in a feedlot involves checking each pen daily to determine the ration quantity to be fed to the cattle therein at each particular feeding cycle during that day. This daily check may also involve assessing the condition of the cattle, and observing the condition of the pen. At a feedmill, feed trucks are then loaded with appropriate quantities of feed for delivery during a particular feeding cycle. Thereafter, the loaded feed trucks are driven to the feedbunks and the assigned ration quantity for each pen is dispensed in its feedbunk. The above process is then repeated for each designated feeding cycle. Owing to the large number of feed ration quantities assigned for delivery each day in the feedlot, feeding animals in a large feedlot has become an enormously complex and time-consuming process.
It is well known in the art to use computers to simplify feedlot management operations. In their 1984 PC World article xe2x80x9cComputers Ride The Rangexe2x80x9d, Eric Brown and John Faulkner explain that large feedlots were the first cattle operations to utilize computers in order to simplify calculations on feed, cattle movements, payroll and accounting, invoicing and least-cost feed blending. From such calculations, market projections, xe2x80x9cbreak-even pricesxe2x80x9d on any given head of cattle, and analyzable historical records can be easily created while permitting feedlot managers to keep track of virtually all overhead costs, from labor and equipment costs, down to the last bushel of corn and gram of micronutrients. Computer systems of the above type are generally described in the articles: xe2x80x9cHomestead Management Systems"" Feedlot Planner and Hay Plannerxe2x80x9d by Wayne Forest, published on pages 40-44 of the September 1985 issue of Agricomp magazine; and xe2x80x9cRations and Feedlot Monitoringxe2x80x9d by Carl Alexander, published on pages 107-112 of Computer Applications in Feeding and Management of Animals, November 1984. The use of computer systems to simulate and thus predict the growth process of cattle in a feedlot is disclosed in the article xe2x80x9cOSU Feedlot (Fortran)(trademark) by Donald R. Gill, on pages 93-106 of Computer Applications in Feeding and Management of Animals, supra.
It is also well known to use portable computing equipment in order to facilitate the assignment and delivery of feed rations in a feedlot. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,821 to Pratt, et al. Discloses one prior art system in which portable computers are used in feed ration assignment and delivery operations. As disclosed, this prior art computer system uses portable computers during the feed ration assignment and delivery process. Using such computers, the feedbunk reader assigns particular feedtrucks and drivers to deliver specified loads of feed to specified sequences of pens along a prioritized feed loads are loaded onto preassigned feed delivery vehicles, and then the feed delivery vehicles dispense the feed rations into the feedbunks associated with the corresponding animal pens along the prioritized feeding route.
In order to carry out feed delivery operations, known feed delivery vehicles use a motor-driven auger to dispense the preassigned amount of feed ration from the vehicle into and along the length of the corresponding feedbunk. However, when using conventional feed dispensing technology, non-uniform delivery of feed rations along the length of the feedbunk often occurs. As each section of the feedbunk naturally becomes the territory of a particular animal over time, certain animals, who return to the same section of the feedbunk during each feeding cycle, are not provided with an equal amount of feed as animals along the same feedbunk. This condition along the feedbunk prevents successful modelling of animal consumption patterns, and the prediction of weight gain in response to assigned feed rations, and thus significantly effects the overall feedlot management process sought to be carried out in the feedlot. Prior art feedlot management systems and methods not only fail to address this problem, but create conditions which perpetuate it.
Prior art feedlot management methods also fail to provide feedlot operators (e.g. bunkers, feed deliverymen, veterinarians and feedlot managers) with an easy way of ascertaining the state of affairs in the feedlot outside the scope and range of their human senses. Consequently, the use of prior art systems and methods has made it very difficult for operators to collaborate in ways which minimize the time and energy required to carry out feedlot operations, while reducing feedlot operating costs and the number of employees required to support its operations.
Thus, there is a great need in the art for an improved system and method for carrying out and managing animal feedlot operations, including delivering assigning feed rations to animals in a feedlot, while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior art systems and methods.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for carrying out and managing animal feedlot operations, while overcoming the problems associated with prior art systems and methodologies.
A further object of the invention is to provide an animal feedlot operations and management system, wherein one or more feedlot vehicles are equipped with on-board computer systems which use geographical coordinate acquisition techniques provided by a satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) in order to carry out and manage animal feedlot operations.
Another object of the invention is to provide an animal feedlot operations and management system, wherein each feedlot vehicle has an on-board computer system which uses real-time graphical modeling (e.g. 2-D or 3-D geometrical) and geographical coordinate acquisition techniques, supported on an Internet-based digital communications platform, in order to carry out and manage animal feedlot operations.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a computer-aided animal feed delivery system, wherein at least one feed delivery vehicle has an on-board computer system which uses real-time graphical modeling and coordinate acquisition techniques to uniformly deliver feed rations to the feedbunks of animals in the feedlot.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a system, wherein a graphical modeling subsystem aboard each feedlot vehicle has access to a 3-D virtual reality modelling language (VRML) database containing a VR model of the feedlot which accurately reflects the position and orientation of the feedlot vehicle as it is navigated through the feedlot in either a manned or unmanned mode of navigation.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a system, wherein the VRML database is continually updated by a VRML database processor (i.e. VRML engine) using information which has been obtained from a satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) and transmitted to the VRML database processor by way of an Internet-based digital communications network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, in which information produced from the GPS is used to continually update the VR-based feedlot model in order to: (i) display alleyways, pens and other fixed identifiers in the feedlot on a display screen aboard each feedlot vehicle; (ii) determine that each particular feed delivery vehicle is stopped at the correct feedbunk for delivery of assigned feed rations; (iii) determine the length of the feedbunk at which the vehicle is stopped; and (iv) determine the speed of the feed delivery vehicle from the beginning of the feedbunk to the end thereof during uniform feed dispensing operations.
A further objects of the present invention is to provide such a system, in which at least one feedlot vehicle includes a GPS receiver equipped with a GPS processor for producing geographic coordinate data which specifies the position and orientation of the feedlot vehicle within the feedlot.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, in which at least one feed delivery vehicle includes sensors for producing geographic coordinate data specifying the orientation of the feed dispensing chute relative to the body of the feed delivery vehicle during uniform feed dispensing operations.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system, wherein a feedlot vehicle can be remotely navigated over a preprogrammed or improvised navigational course in the feedlot by way of the vehicle operator remotely interacting with a 3-D graphical model of the feedlot viewed on a 2-dimensional display device at a remotely situated workstation that is in communication with the vehicle through a wireless digital communication network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of carrying out and managing operations in an animal feedlot.
The animal feedlot management system of the present invention comprises: (a) a main feedlot computer system which stores a feedlot layout database for maintaining geographic coordinate information representative of a model of the feedlot and objects contained therein, (b) at least one feedlot vehicle, (c) a mobile computer system installed on-board the feedlot vehicle, the mobile computer system including a display mechanism for viewing at least a portion of the model maintained in the feedlot layout database. The mobile computer system is coupled to a GPS receiver that acquires vehicle information related to at least one of the geographic coordinates, orientation, and speed of the feedlot vehicle. The main feedlot computer system is coupled to at least one of a wireless transceiver and a wired or wireless Internet connection for communicating with the mobile computer system. The mobile computer system is coupled to at least one of a wireless transceiver and a wired or wireless Internet connection for communicating vehicle information to the main feedlot computer system. In response to the receipt of vehicle information, the main feedlot computer system periodically and/or repeatedly updates the feedlot layout database and transmits at least a portion of this updated database to the mobile computer system. The display mechanism aboard the feedlot vehicle permits the vehicle""s driver to view at least a portion of the feedlot layout model, including the driver""s vehicle as it is being navigated through the feedlot during feedlot operations.
Pursuant to a further embodiment of the invention, the animal feedlot management system optionally comprises an animal information acquisition mechanism for acquiring animal information regarding the geographic position of animals in the feedlot relative to a prespecified coordinate reference frame, and/or animal information specifying the body temperature of each of a plurality of animals so that the feedlot layout database reflects the position and/or body-temperature of the animals.
A feedlot vehicle can be remotely controlled through the feedlot by an operator using at least one of the main feedlot computer system and a remotely situated workstation. The feedlot layout database can be maintained aboard an Internet server operably associated with an Internet-based digital communications network. If a wired Internet connection is used, a replica of the feedlot layout database may be maintained aboard each feedlot vehicle.
The display mechanism can be used to ascertain both vehicle and animal information reflected in the model of the feedlot. The animal feedlot management system can further comprise at least one workstation for viewing the model of the feedlot during feedlot operations. The workstation can be used for viewing the model of a feedlot vehicle in the feedlot and remotely navigating the feedlot vehicle along a course in the feedlot.
In another aspect, the animal feedlot management system comprises a plurality of feedlot vehicles, each employing an on-board computer system which includes a feedlot modelling subsystem for maintaining a geometrical database containing a geometrical model of the feedlot and objects contained therein a coordinate acquisition subsystem for acquiring coordinate information specifying the position of the feedlot vehicle relative to a coordinate reference system symbolically embedded within the feedlot, and geometrical database using the coordinate information in order to update the geometrical model.
The associated method of animal feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot comprises the steps of (a) providing a feedlot vehicle with an on-board computer system which uses real-time graphical modeling and coordinate acquisition techniques in order to maintain a 3-D geometrical model of the feedlot and objects therein including the feedlot vehicle, and (b) navigating the feedlot vehicle while viewing an aspect of the feedlot model from within the feedlot vehicle.
In a further aspect, the animal feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot pursuant to the present invention can comprise a graphical modeling subsystem for maintaining information representative of a virtual reality (VR) model of the animal feedlot wherein the VR model accurately reflects the position of the feedlot vehicles as they are navigated through the feedlot, and the position and body-temperature of each of a plurality of animals in the feedlot.
Pursuant to a further embodiment of the invention, as the feedlot vehicle is navigated alongside a feedbunk in the feedlot, the display mechanism permits the driver of the feedlot vehicle to view a selected portion of a feedlot model from the feedlot layout database showing the feedlot vehicle and the feedbunk along which the feedlot vehicle is navigated during a feedlot operation. The feedlot vehicle can further include a uniform feed dispensing subsystem for uniformly dispensing assigned feed rations along the length of a feedbunk. These and other features will be readily apparent after having the benefit of the following disclosure and the appended figures which are described as follows.